Ted Selby, industry legend, passes away at age 93

Theodore (Ted) Selby, an industry legend, passed away on March 25, 2022 at the age of 93, his daughter Rebecca Selby Cox announced.

“At 93 years old, Ted lived a rich and full life, continuing to explore and create scientific marvels right up until the end. In his last years and months, he spoke frequently of meeting the Lord and joining Jean, his wife of 67 years who predeceased him in 2018.  He was ready to go and, ever Ted, optimistic about the journey,” said Selby Cox.

Services to honor and celebrate his life are being arranged and will be confirmed once the final details are complete. 

Ted was both a friend and a mentor. He was the founder of the Savant Group, which comprises four individual companies that provide products and services to the automotive, lubricant, and associated industries. These products and services include laboratory testing, innovative laboratory instrumentation, and extensive data from the collection and analysis of automotive engine oils. Savant Group has created numerous instruments that are used by participants in ASTM, CEC, ACEA and ILSAC. During his long career, he was granted nearly 50 U.S. patents for lubricant test methods and high precision test instruments.

In May 2018, he was awarded the highest technical honor by the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers (STLE) in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A. The STLE International Award, formerly the ASLE National Award, bestows lifetime honorary membership on the recipient in recognition of the contribution he or she has made to the advancement of tribology, lubrication engineering and allied fields.

Ted saw himself as one of many contributing to the seldom appreciated bedrock of this present civilisation — lubrication. The devout Catholic considered himself fortunate for the opportunities he had and believed that “There are many others that have interesting ideas and abilities to express — they just haven’t been heard or found the opportunity.”

In the early stages of his career, Ted became very aware of the range and importance of lubrication and the need to do as much as possible to make sure that it met the growing needs of civilisation. Leveraging his training and background as a physical chemist, he began to look at lubrication from the standpoint of problems and the generation of solutions that would not entail great expense, in other words — instruments and laboratory testing.

From that viewpoint, the Savant Group, which he started in 1969 in Midland, Michigan, U.S.A., based its business success on always being at the cutting edge and developing a reputation as problem solvers.

The University of Detroit graduate’s success was perhaps even more remarkable given it was a chance occurrence that impelled his employment in the area of lubricants. Ted was working in the Analytical Department at General Motors when he stumbled across a strange “viscosity” experiment being run by the Lubricants Department. Ever the inquisitive and helpful mind, Selby offered guidance on a simpler approach. A few days later a job offer from the Lubricants Department transpired — for him to engage in low-temperature engine oil measurements. Despite pursuing a Masters Degree in Physical Chemistry with a theoretical viscometry project at the time, Selby shared that it was a difficult decision at the time because departmental “poaching” was strongly frowned upon in the 1950s.

Following a number of years at General Motors, Ted moved to Dow Chemical on the recommendation of his previous college professor. His background in lubricants and automotive industry contacts were appealing to Dow Chemical, which was in the process of advancing its automotive knowledge and capability.

Ted left Dow Chemical in 1969 to start Savant. Despite the blessing of his former employer, and a Dow contract as Savant’s first customer, the move was definitely not without risk. “I had nine kids at home at that time, no money in the bank, no provisions for retirement after I left the great job I had had at Dow,” he recalled when I last spoke to him in May 2018.

Ted believed that the most important purpose of any business is to help its people develop their sense of self-value coupled with a keen eagerness and ability to serve others. He embedded this concept in the motto of the Savant Group — to be a “Wise Servant.” That is, beyond just working effectively on a given assignment, this is an attitude of wanting to serve one another and Savant’s customers by carefully listening, understanding and thoughtful contributions. He believed that much job satisfaction, personal growth and good customer service can come from this behavior as well as much new understanding to the benefit of all. One of the consequences is good business, he said.